As is the case with every free agency period, we are going to see that some teams are more active than others. Obviously, there are teams that need a lot of work to just get back to some form of respectability, while others just need a little tinkering. There is also the salary cap to consider, which is why we are going to see a few teams unload some salaried in hopes of getting to a point where they are not financially crippled for the next few seasons. With a little over a week of free agency in the books, the Detroit Lions have been one of the more active teams in the market, which is no real surprise when you consider that they are coming off a 3-win season in 2019. They are a long way from being competitive, but it certainly looks as though they are serious about making the changes that might help them head in the right direction this coming season. There is an awful lot of ground to cover with this teams and the moves that they have made, so here’s an overview of the Detroit Lions and their NFL Odds as it stands.
Detroit Lions Odds After Free Agency Week 1
Player Movement and Possible Future Moves
The Lions finished last season with a record of 3-12-1, losing 9 in a row to close out the year. In fairness, they were without QB Matthew Stafford for 8 of those games, as he went down with a broken back at the midway point of the season. Stafford has suffered a lot of injuries over the course of his career, but this is likely to be the toughest of the lot to recover from, so it will be interesting to see how he bounces back.
Besides it becoming clear that the Lions did not have a viable backup QB, last season proved that this teams needed to clean out and get some fresh new faces in the lineup. The front office has done a good job of that through the opening week of free agency.
After losing Darius Slay, the Lions needed a replacement CB, which they got by picking up Desmond Trufant from the Falcons. They also added some meat to their special teams by going out and acquiring Jayron Kearse on a 1-year deal. Rebuilding a team often begins with bringing in proven winners, which the Lions did by picking up DT Danny Shelton from the Patriots, a player who could be viewed as an upgrade from D.J. Reader, who moved over to Cincinnati. As mentioned earlier, it became very clear that the Lions needed a reliable backup QB, which they got by landing Chase Daniel on a 3-year deal. DT Nick Williams is a player that will add some QB pressure to the D-Line, while LB Jamie Collins is another former Patriot who can come in and help improve the winning mentality in Detroit.
The Lions have already made a lot of changes and are likely not yet done. They are going to need all these players to gel very quickly if they hope to move out of the cellar in the NFC.
The Detroit Lions Odds to Win the Super Bowl
There are not a lot of teams who go from a 3-win season to a conference championship contender in the space of a single free agency period. The Lions should be better this season, but they are still a real longshot at odds of +8000.
